Siemens leaves household appliance joint venture with Bosch

Bosch and Siemens have produced household appliances together since 1967 through a joint venture, but they will now go their separate ways: Bosch has bought Siemens' share for 3 billion euro.

"Internet of things"

German technology group Bosch will become BSH's (Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte) full owner after it has paid Siemens 3 billion euro for its 50 % share in the joint venture. On top of that 3 billion euro, BSH will pay Siemens and Bosch 250 million euro each.

Bosch, one of the world's largest car suppliers, wants to lower its dependence on cars and that is why it will focus more on the so-called "internet of things". This revolves around household appliances (like washing machines and refrigerators) that communicate with the internet. Siemens on the other hands wants to focus more on gas turbines and compressors in the energy market.

Bosch can keep using the Siemens brand name for household appliances for quite a while. BSH is the third largest household appliance manufacturer in the world, with 41 factories in Asia, Europe and America. The deal should be finalized in the first half of 2015.

It is the second household appliance deal in the past month: General Electric has sold its household appliance division to Electrolux at the start of September and this second deal has consolidated the market even further.

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